If you ever make a 'September Clues' sequel, you could use my latest half-assed musical diatribe on the soundtrack. Only if you wanted to mind you!?(Apologies if the link is faulty. Smartphone and all that jazz man)

Jay, I've just spent some time on your Soundcloud page, and like the first six songs of yours I've listened to - and I love Sleaford Mods! Took time last year to listen to their entire discog twice through.

P.S. The images from an incident in Keighley a few years ago of a baby named Riley Turner being killed sure look psy-opped. Know anything about it?

Thanks for the kind words fbenario. We don't do much these days but we try and make it count. As for Sleaford Mods, they are purveyors of misanthropy which is right up my street!

As for the Riley Turner episode, it's a strange one. The mother is real and on the day the alleged killer was captured, the whole area in which he was captured was on lockdown so to speak. As for what actually happened, I'm not sure as I live up the posh end of town away from the riff raff!

It is my pleasure to announce the release of my band's 2016 album, "Songs in Vacuum". It is the result of countless 'midnight oil' studio sessions we've been diligently upholding this last year, ever since the release of our 2015 "Realitivity" album. I really feel lucky to still have various members of my former, full-fledged live-performing band ("The Social Service") still regularly coming around in my little recording studio and contributing to album projects such as this. The thing is, the music-making 'bug' is what keeps me going - whenever my (otherwise naturally-optimistic) mood takes a downturn. As I may have stated in the past, the live band disbanded largely due to my very own 'fault' - as I dived heads-and-shoulders into the time-consuming September Clues research - and of course, dedicating 'unhealthy' amounts of time running Cluesforum - in my uncontrollable (yet well-meaning) urge to help restore some sanity in this demented world of ours...

This said, however - no regrets: knowing what I know now about the music industry, I'm glad that I kept out of it - not that I ever nurtured any hopes of becoming a (gawd forbid) "rock star" of any kind !... To be sure, I'm quite content that my life's ...uh... 'greatest hits' (September Clues and this forum) will never make it to a TV audience - and much less to any "Emmy" awards or such like - and that music will always remain a pleasant & relaxing hobby / pastime for me.

Nonetheless, I will now shamelessly hope that ALL of you Cluesforum readers may consider the opportunity of purchasing this new album - whether you dig it or not ( lulz ) - were it only to show your appreciation of, well, all the work and efforts I've put into this (totally un-financed /un-sponsored / budget-less) discussion forum over the years. On the other hand, if you DO dig our new album - yet have never considered clicking our little 'donut' button, perhaps you might take this opportunity to BOTH acquire some cool music AND, at the same time, show your appreciation for my longstanding research efforts (and yes, as much as I hate to 'disclose' this, I'm in pretty dire financial straits right now - due to various circumstances I will spare you the details of). The Bandcamp music site allows anyone to buy an album at its stated, minimum price (or more) - and by downloading the tunes you'll get them in full audio quality - as opposed to the low-res quality of the Bandcamp online player.

Please note that our very own Hoi Polloi makes a 'cameo appearance' in the song called "BY THE BALLS" - with words / text written by himself!

Come on folks, please make us happy (my band and yours truly) and purchase our latest album! We had about two dozen customers for our 2015 album ("Realitivity") - and we really do hope we can top that number this year - with our 2016 "Songs in Vacuum" project. Of course, I do understand that Cluesforum readers are not necessarily music lovers (or much less, The Social Service fans!) - but how about making an exception this time, were it only for the sake of solidarity with this forum's very existence and sustainability?

If you don't have a Paypal account, please contact me by e-mail (simonshack(AT)libero.it) for alternative money transfer modes.

I just went through a sampling of your album and I really enjoyed it. I'm not a huge music fan, but I really like your sound - it puts me in a different place - which is what I need - an enjoyable distraction I also would like to provide you with some financial support because I know its not free to run this forum - monetarily or time-wise.

I sent you an email about using another method to purchase the album as I recently closed my PayPal account.

Just bought it. I am loving all the new songs, and it's so cool to hear the final versions of the snippets I heard in development when I was just there last fall. Plus, I feel so honored to be 'in the social service' to a small degree, and I am totally tripping on it. Thank you Simon! And awesome, atmospheric, cool, cool new sounds. Say hi and thanks to the guys for me!

Simon, I've listened to the whole album twice over the last 24 hours, and absolutely love it! One minute into Figure Out, it struck me that it is reminiscent of the vibe, the atmospherics, of one of my favorite sounds, the 1971-74 Bob Welch/Christine McVie version of Fleetwood Mac (before Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined and superstardom followed). While listening to your album I kept thinking of Welch's great Hypnotized, similar wistful vocals and guitar:

fbenario wrote:Simon, I've listened to the whole album twice over the last 24 hours, and absolutely love it! One minute into Figure Out, it struck me that it is reminiscent of the vibe, the atmospherics, of one of my favorite sounds, the 1971-74 Bob Welch/Christine McVie version of Fleetwood Mac (before Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined and superstardom followed). While listening to your album I kept thinking of Welch's great Hypnotized, similar wistful vocals and guitar:

Thanks for your kind words, Fbenario - glad you liked the album! I used to be (still am, I guess) a bit of a Fleetwood Mac fan - yet didn't know about that earlier "Hypnotized" tune / and 'Mystery to me' album. A flattering comparison with my band's sound - although one might say their 'Hypnotized' tune is rather 'breezier / surfier' than our 'Figure Out' track!

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Message to all prospective / future new customers of my band's music :

From now on, please contact me at simonshack(at)libero.it and I will send you any album (or separate tunes) of your choice via jumbo-mail. You can make the payment through the donate button (at the bottom of this page). Thanks!

Simon, Songs In Vacuum also reminded me of one of my all-time favorite albums, one so obscure seemingly no one has ever heard it, or heard of it - Tom Robinson's 1980 album of his second band, Sector 27. Had a very angular, post-punk sound. Here's the entire album (only the first 11 tracks here were on the original release):